What if I start therapy for OCD but want to stop it after a few sessions?

May 5, 2014 by Karen Hill | Filed Under: Health

This is very common; many people consider quitting therapy at some point during their treatment. There are many reasons, the cost, not seeing results quickly enough, fear of doing exposures, side effects of medication, or just difficulty with time commitments.

But whatever the reason or excuse, it is always best to stick with treatment. If you are not pleased with your therapist, you can always ask for a recommendation for another, but just stopping therapy altogether is very rarely helpful.

As well as stalling the process of dealing with obsessions and compulsions, it may even make it harder for you to get help in the future because you may decide there is no need to return to get treatment given that it was not really helpful in the past anyway.

The effectiveness rate for therapy, especially ERP, CBT, and medications, is very high, and if those don’t sound like treatments that you are interested in, there are numerous other therapies available that may help your OCD. One of these is bound to work, as long as you give it a fair chance.

Staying in therapy even through the uncomfortable or even painful moments may be the only way for you to ease the symptoms of your OCD.